British legal system makes me sick part6

Justice is a system, not a result.

Besides what blacksmithn wrote above, Don, what different legal system do you actually want?
(An aside: there are three different legal systems in the UK: English law, which covers Wales as well, Scottish law, and Northern Ireland law.)

From Don's link:



The headline of the printed paper (frontpage):



And different to the online text it says correctly on page 4:



We have a different legal system here in Germany. I would imagine, he would have got the same or perhaps a bit more - something between 18 month and two years: released on licence (= no prison now). And most probably he would had to stay in prison before as well. (There was no danger of of absconding, he had an legal address, family, ...)

So, our system (Roman Law) wouldn't be choice for you either, Don.

This man had a conviction for drunk driving, at the time of the offence he was driving without insurance, and he fled the scene, (hit and run driver) this young girls life has been terminated and this moronic legal system decides that her life was so insignificant that this warrants a sentence of NINE months?

The judge said he showed remorse, well what a surprise, a criminal showing remorse just before being sentenced.

We've got that in legal systems under the Roman Law as well.

As said, he would have got about the same here. But hadn't to go in prison at all.

Nine months, only if he behaves himself in prison and "earns" early release.

But yes, I tend to agree that this particular offender should not have been dealt with so leniently.

He was not a first time driving offender, and fled the scene when he MAY (doubtful though) have been able to help the poor victim.

Hit and run should be taken a lot more seriously, in my view.

This had long been a problem in the United States, as well, with police officers "winking" at drunk driving. One mother who lost her daughter began the organization "MADD"--Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Even their efforts have not been universally successful, nor as productive of punitive measures as many people would have hoped. Nevertheless, they shone a bright and embarrassing spotlight on a problem which law enforcement was always content to have swept under the judicial carpet.

One major problem is that the people in the justice system themselves drink and drive, and probably aren't eager to canvass the problem very exhaustively. We live in societies which tolerate one of the most destructive drugs known to man--alcohol--and which do not care to face the reality of the problems concommitant to alcohol abuse.

If what you say Walter is correct of your system of justice then at least we in this country have the small comfort of knowing that our legal peoples mental retardation is not confined to Britain.

That's more than our local case.

In August, 2005 a young man from Wisconsin was riding his bike at night. He was hit by a drunk driver (one of our locals) who then fled the scene. His wife noticed the car was damaged and asked what had happened. THEY returned to the scene of the accident and MOVED THE BIKE out of the way so it wouldn't be seen by a passer-by. The biker had been thrown off the side of the road and was not visible either. They returned home to let the driver sober up before driving over to the police station six hours later.

The police found the man, still alive but critical, and arranged transportation to the nearest critical care center. He subsequently died as a result of his injuries. The driver was charged with DUI but all aggravated charges associated with the biker were dropped because they didn't have enough evidence to convict (the wife cannot testify against the driver).

Recently, the same driver was again arrested for DUI and having an open container of beer in his car. Furious that this man is still driving (and driving while drunk), I called the State's Attorney's office, the local police dept and our local small-town newspaper that had printed the new arrest as a two line item without mention of the previous incident. Everyone I spoke to said they are aware that this is the same individual. Hopefully, there is some way that the prior case can be reopened and new charges filed but probably not, grrrrrr

I agree that this sentence seems ridiculously light on it's face. That being said, I also think it's preferable to allow judges a certain amount of latitude in sentencing and not mandate that X crime demands Y punishment and Y punishment only. Draconian law went out of style a long time ago and good riddance.

Let's face it, as long as humans are in charge of any justice system, it will be fallible. But I'm willing to bet that cases like this are newsworthy precisely because they're exceptional.

One also hopes such cases would lead to a reformation of the system . . . one hopes to buy winning lottery tickets, as well . . .

As usual Set is quite right to point out that the legal "professionals" are not immune from mixing alcohol and motor cars themselves.

But I suspect that what really gets our poster Don1 (?) agitated is the very common English/Brummie name Jaswinder Lakhvinder Singh. And its not untypical of the Daily Mail to make sure such a name is prominent at the top of the article. Whereas if it was eg "Bertrand Rothermere"...(great grand nephew of Lord Rothemere etc etc)...or other acceptable name, it would not have been printed until the last paragraph.

Its also worth pointing out that singh gave himself up when he realised the girl was dead. That to me is indicative of remorse.

Well, some crimes have been thought of to be just harmless crimes since decades - all connected with driving have (here) a great tradition in such.

A little help here, Steve . . . English/Brummie?

Brummie = colloquialism = from Birmingham

I was being ironic. Singh is clearly an Indian/Sikh name.

I suspected as much (the irony), but found myself tripping over sheer ignorance.

Steve your comment is offensive in that you are accusing me of being a racist where no possible racism is implied (other than by you) and if you think that this man showed remorse after his hit and run crime, and that remorse at the sentencing stage is true remorse and not someone trying to get themselves a better deal, then god forbid you are ever on jury service, you are simply not bright enough to be on it.

This should be interesting . . .

In my experience, 90% of remorse ends when the offender receives a non custodial sentence, and walks off down the street with his/her friends, cigarette in hand, planning his/ her evening "unexpected liberty" celebration.